280 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
ness with which it pops beneath the surface, and 
emerges at many yards' distance, make it very 
interesting to watch. It is as active in its move- 
ments as a lizard, and there seems also something 
harmlessly snake-like about its slender, lissom neck 
and elongated head and bill, which it uses for 
twisting and peering about with the utmost 
vigilance and cheeriness. In colour it is chiefly a 
dusky, smoky brown, tinged with dull chestnut 
about the head and neck, and inclining to white 
on the throat and under parts. The plumage 
becomes a little paler and more faded-looking 
during the winter months. It seldom flies, and is 
awkward and ungainly on land, its whole physical 
development being adapted for swimming, and 
especially for diving. The structure of the feet 
in particular is specialised for use in the water, and 
diverted from purposes of walking ; the curious 
flattened shape and lop-sided position of the toes 
gives the bird extreme agility in its own peculiar 
element, though but ill adapted for progress on 
dry land. The Dabchick nests as early as April, 
and as late as July ; but May and June are the 
height of the season for it. The nest is a wet, 
round pudding of green water-weed, floating two- 
thirds under water, and kept in place by standing 
reeds or sedges, or by the dipping twigs of a bush. 
The five or six eggs are long in shape, and almost 
